Biden Wins Georgia, Further Solidifying His Presidential Win
President-elect Joe Biden has sealed a victory in Georgia, which has remained in limbo since Election Night, Nov. 3. With the win of its 16 electoral votes, the state has gone to a Democratic candidate for the first time since 1992.
CBS News reports that Biden took Georgia a day after he won Arizona, also a former Republican state, bringing him to 306 electoral college votes. He became the projected winner of the election on Saturday (Nov. 7) when he won Pennsylvania, pushing him past the 270 electoral college vote threshold. Votes are still being counted there and leading by 60,000 votes, he now has enough of a margin to avoid a recount, according to Forbes.
President Trump was the projected winner of North Carolina and Alaska, which he had led since the election. He is refusing to concede the election and has filed lawsuits, alleging widespread fraud but courts have been constantly dropping the cases due to lack of evidence.
Georgia was pushed toward the Democrats column by grassroots get out the vote efforts led by voter advocate Stacey Abrams and local organizations that brought out a record number of people. Those voters cast ballots either in early voting or through mail-in ballots, as well as voting on Election Day.
But a runoff has been set for Jan. 5 to determine which candidates for U.S. Senate will take those seats. Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff are challenging incumbent Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. The outcome of the runoff could determine which party controls the Senate.
A manual recount of votes in Georgia has been announced by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger because of the thin margin between Biden and Trump. But the president-elect leads 2,472,154 to 2,458,002 or 49.5 percent to 49.2 and that lead is not expected to change.
Meanwhile, Biden is continuing to plan for assuming the office on Jan. 20, despite Trump’s refusal to cooperate with the traditional transition. He has already announced plans to attack coronavirus from the start of his administration.
